It’s a war with no end in sight, but battles are being won against fentanyl.
“You’re not going to arrest your way out of it, and you’re not going to treat your way out of it,” said Tommy Farmer, director, TBI Drug Task Force special agent.
“We’re talking about the impact of drugs, dangerous drugs and new emerging trends that are impacting our state – and this community as well.”
“The use and abuse of fentanyl … just how dangerous fentanyl is.”
Farmer was a guest speaker hosted by I-CARE – a United Way event – during an informational session at Destiny Church, 636 Wallace Road, Wednesday.
His scheduled appearance came one week after a Madison County Sheriff’s deputy made a traffic stop at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and Carriage House Drive in Jackson, that led to the discovery of seventy-three (73) pounds of fentanyl pills, which equates to over 300,000 pills with a street value in the millions of dollars.
The location of the arrest didn’t surprise Farmer, considering it happened near Interstate 40 – a well-used corridor for drug trafficking.
“We have a lot of people who travel to our state and a lot (of people) who travel through our state,” Farmer said, “We’ve had substantial seizures … but there’s no question we have an insatiable opioid appetite for drugs. Tennessee is no stranger to this.”
Farmer said youth are targeted by those selling drugs.
We’ve turned into more of a pill society,” Farmer said, “Individuals would be more susceptible to using an illicit pill than it would to simply injecting the powder. Unfortunately, we do live in a time now where we have to tell our kids ‘You can’t take a gummy (candy) from somebody else you can’t take a colored candy from somebody else.’ If it doesn’t come from mom and dad … we didn’t tell you it was ok, then you can’t.’”
Johnny Dodd, Jackson City councilman, District 2, was encouraged by the meeting.
“The information was great today,” Dodd said, “We are going to do a lot of work in the community. We have several dealers in this city. That’s a law enforcement job, but my job … prevention, information awareness.
“I want to keep families together. Right now, it is destroying families. I want to be able to save these families.”
(PHOTO: Johnny Dodd, left, and Tommy Farmer, at I-CARE event, Wednesday)
